
1 

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COPYRIGHT DKPOSUi 




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Published by the 

Cumberland Gap Hotel and Park Co. 

Harrogate^ Tenn. 

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Published by the 

Cumberland Gap Hotel and Park Co. 

Ha rroga te, Ten ?i . 

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Copyright, 1892, by 
Allan McLane Hamilton. 



No. 









|6drrn\§ Jm) LC^R^ ^ ^ cy^^ 



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L^T"^""^ celebration of the discovery of America was 
over, and all that existed to remind one of the 
merry-making of a confused week were the 
torn and stained banners, the bedraggled decorations, and the 
memories of crowds, noise, smoke, and bubbling patriotism. 

The last Italian cavalier in the procession had hung up his uni- 
form for another year, and returned to the neglected chestnut-stand; 
the tired New Jersey bicyclist had finished oiling his steely steed in 
the barn, and the Board oi^ Aldermen were getting in their bills. 
The great show of 1892 had been a success in every way, and had 
done the people exceeding good, so that they were not — excepting a 
few who had gone to the Lenox Lyceum dinner — in need of medi- 
cine, or in the mood for doctors. 

In view of this condition of affairs, it was but natural that the 
members of a hard-working profession should take their " day off" — 
and so they did. Nearly a fortnight before a number of invitations 
like the following had been sent : 

My dear Doctor: I have secured a special train, and invited a 
few medical friends to go down to Cumberland Gap for the purpose 
of a short outing in the Tennessee mountains. The train will leave 
on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 15, reaching Harrogate the next night, 
and returning to arrive in New -York the following Friday. 

I sincerely hope you can go, and beg that you will reply at your 
earliest convenience. Yours very truly, 




It was but natural that physic should be thrown to the dogs, and 
on the afternoon of Saturday, October 15, a goodly crowd of medi- 
cal gentlemen boarded the hotel-car " Celtic " at Jersey City. There 
was no intention upon the part of the secretary of the Cumber- 



A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 



land Gap Park Company, Mr. Doe, — a peaceable alderman of 
Elizabeth, New Jersey, — who was directed to provide a car, to 
get one whose name suggested free fights or hilarious conviviality, 
for he knew that the gentlemen accepting the president's invitation 
were among the most quiet and dignified of their kind, although 
their environment was not always the best. At least two of the 
party came from New Haven, where Yale College has the entire 
monopoly of the town in "rushing," and the privilege of making 
every and all kinds of noise which seems to be inseparable from 
higher education, while another was at the head of a most exem- 
plary and well-ordered institution at Flushing for the care of per- 
sons who, as a rule, do not know enough to keep quiet. But if 
there had been any doubt as to the character of the party, it was 
settled by the advent of the gentleman whom we will call " The 
Reminiscent One," and the staid young medical man with an Irish 
name, who might have daily kissed the blarney stone, so sweet were 
his disposition and manners. 

And now we are off". The engine, feeling the important load it is 
drawing, snorts impatiently, and the engineer, possessed with the 

idea that a lot of doctors are after 
him, pulls open the throttle, and 
the train of the " Royal Blue Line" 
must have appeared to the wonder- 
ing eyes of the patient cows who 
clipped and chewed the sparse 
fall herbage in the New Jersey 
fields, as a flash of lightning. 

A Pullman hotel-car has every 
convenience, and this one was es- 
pecially adapted to the needs of its 
medical occupants, for a drawing- 
room had been converted into a 
pharmacy, which, however, was 
rarely used, and though this device 
had been thought a necessity as 
the train ran through at least three prohibition States, and there 
was a danger of some of the party being summarily removed from 
the cars heavily ironed, fortunately no accident occurred, as at din- 
ner the doctors to a man drank each other's health in flowing goblets 




"A Pullman Hotel-Car has Every 
Convenience." 



A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 7 

of milk and mineral water with impunity. The cares of practice 
and college duties had kept at home, much to the regret of the 
host, several who had accepted; yet in one way this acted to the ad- 
vantage of others whose physical peculiarities prevented them from 
entering and enjoying as they should the upper berths. One of 
these gentlemen was found writing a telegram of reassurance to his 
friends at home, and he afterward enjoyed the sleep that only a 
Knickerbocker can. This provision of a lower berth for each per- 
son lessened the chances of conviction the next morning, for at least 
two of the party indulged in unrestricted and sonorous musical ex- 
ercises during the night, which every one repudiated. 



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^^^HE morning of the sixteenth was clear and beautiful, and we 
\iy awoke to find that a new-comer had boarded the train at 
Washington at midnight, an hour which fortunately enabled him to 
escape the horde of patients who, of course, were quite ignorant of 
his departure, and to leave the national seat of government in a 
demoralized state by reason of the loss of one of its most important 
medical heads. Our breakfast was eaten as we passed through the 
picturesque Shenandoah Valley, made famous by some of the most 
spirited fighting during the war, and by the gallant Sheridan. But 
little remains to indicate that blue-coated cavalrymen charged down 
this beautiful valley; but an aged negro, who recited a pathetic story 

of his separation from 
an old mother, whom 
he subsequently met 
in a most unexpected 
and dramatic manner 
in Ohio many years 
after, pointed out the 
corner of the shabby 
depot at Radford, 
where the shells from 
Averill's battery had 
removed a large quan- 
tity of brick-work. 

At Buena Vista, 
which we passed early 
in the morning, began 
a series of deserted 
"boom" towns — relics of the excitement of two years ago. These 
are scattered along the line of the railroad, and it is no unusual 
sight to find the hillsides and valleys laid out with regular streets, 
many of which are overgrown with grass, while lamp-posts rear 




l-'aLc ul a Spy — liiOj. 



A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 9 

themselves out of the rank vegetation. Substantial brick stores with 
boarded windows, tenantless hotels, a jail for criminals, who even- 
tually found nothing to steal, and deserted land-offices, whose oc- 
cupants have long since gone to other regions, leaving these lonely 
places like jackals who have finally picked clean the shiny bones 
of their prey, are features of the country. These towns extend 
nearly two hundred miles south, and only a few have survived the 
depression which is largely due to the Baring failure and the les- 
sened demand for Southern iron. 

Roanoke is the largest of those that have outlived the boom, and 
presents a scene of busy prosperity ; while at Salem and Radford, 
perhaps, in a few years when the present reaction is over, we shall 
again hear in the land the voice of the auctioneer selling " comer 
lots." 




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^^BOUT eleven o'clock we crossed the superb iron bridge at 
/^^r East Radford, which is nearly two miles long, and com- 
menced our mountain ascent, first skirting the exquisite New 
River, beneath palisades nearly as high as those on the Hudson, 
and then a vista of ever-changing glory — the autumn foliage 
being at its best — was spread before us. The air of the region is 
so clear that the most delicate tints were constantly opened up on 
every side, and contrasts of color never seen in the North delighted 
the artistic sense of all. 

Upon the side of the road was the broad New River, which has 
apparently a most eccentric habit of running uphill until it empties 
into the Ohio. Its tortuous course is marked by rifts and parallel 
strata of rocks, and everywhere are to be found numerous beautiful 
islands, which, in some respects, resemble those of the St. Lawrence. 
Along the route the train halts at odd little villages, ancient South- 
ern watering-places, some of which are pre-revolutionary, and at 
Tazewell, the home of the original Colonel Carter, the traveler will 
find the finest stock and the richest crops in America, as well as 
much of the traditional old-time Southern hospitality. Colonel 
Carter, not Hopkinson Smith's creation, but a much more quaint 
person, is a familiar character who is as genial and kind-hearted as 
a child, but a veritable Tartarin in purpose and impulse, and his 
extraordinary actions supply all the local stories. 

Richlands and Graham are on the line of the route, and show 
the efforts of good, honest, enterprising work which has been done 
by the young men, who come mostly from Philadelphia, and who 
have in some instances trebled the value of the capital supplied to 
them for disbursement. Great iron-furnaces, rolling- and saw-mills 
are everywhere to be seen; and at Bluefield, which is destined to 
become one of the greatest coal centers of the country, we find that 
the liberal policy of the Norfolk and Western road has done much 
to promote its growth. The people all have a wideawake look, 
and are decent and self-respecting. 



A doctor's pilgrimage. ii 

Westward the road takes its way — towns become smaller, and 
the scenery more wild and rugged. Our party have adjourned to 
the back platform, and view with wonder and delight the glorious 
mountains, and marvel at the engineering skill which has been 
shown in the building of great tunnels and trestles. As we advance 
into the interior the scenery becomes still wilder, and the people at 
the railroad stations acquire a type which is peculiar and unmis- 
takable. Until eighteen months ago none of them had seen a 
railroad, and when a daily train stopped, it was a most important 
occasion, people coming miles from the interior, men and women, 
as is the custom, riding on the same horses ; and for some months 
after, they would travel from one station to another, perfectly con- 
tent to walk the ten or fifteen miles back to the place from whence 
they had boarded the train for the sake of the experience. 

Through the great Virginia and Kentucky valleys traversed by 
the Clinch Valley extension, and for fifty miles north and south, we 
find a most interesting phase of civilization, for in several regions 
until recently feuds had been indulged in, accounts of which at the 
time found their way into the sensational press. " Hatfields and 
McCoys," and " Turners and Howards," settled all disputes in a 
summary way, but, luckily, either owing to the fact of the building 
of the railroad, or that extermination must come some day or other, 
an end has been reached. 
Many amusing though grim 
stories are told in which the 
carelessness in regard to hu- 
man life figures most conspic- 
uously. 

With such a large company 
it was quite natural that all 
elements should be repre- 
sented, and after the first ""^ ~ ♦ Ari 

„^4.4.T ~ j« "They Lived ever in Their Science." 

settlmg-down we were con- ^ 

stantly surprised by some manifestation of genius, and it ap- 
peared at an early date that our car contained at least two bota- 
nists. One was a gentleman whose researches in a neighboring 
State in regard to the flora of Main street, Bridgeport, and whose 
papers upon the native Myristica Ligiieosa have attracted universal 
attention. The other is the author of " Truffles and Their Habits," 




12 A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 

and "Vegetative Hebetude." The enthusiasm of these members 
of the party was a delightful surprise; they lived ever in their 
science, and wandered over the fields with intertwined arms, dis- 
cussing new flora, and sat up until long after midnight comparing 
their finds. Fortunately their excursions from stations were not 
protracted after the locomotive had taken water and blown its 
whistle of recall, so our journey's end was at last reached and 




The " Four Seasons " Hotel. 



every member turned up safely at Harrogate, where we arrived at 
nine o'clock Sunday night and found the genial manager of the 
"Four Seasons " Hotel, Mr. Clair, awaiting us. Ten minutes later 
we reached the hotel, whose cheery portals were filled with welcom- 
ing friends, and we made what in circus parlance might be termed 
our " gf'a?ide entree^ 

The spectacle of fifteen doctors descending upon the place did 
not cause the consternation which might have been supposed, for 
the force of the blow had been broken by the previous arrival of 
Dr. J. Fletcher Ingalls, of Chicago, and Drs. Thruston and Coleman 
Rogers, of Louisville, with two legal friends who had prepared 
every one for the worst. In lieu of baggage Rogers had brought a 
ghastly-looking box suggestive of dynamite, but upon closer in- 
spection it was found to contain one of the most important liquid 
productions of Kentucky, so for a time the dangerous effects of fa- 
tigue from a twenty-eight hours' journey were averted. 




"The Ascent of the Pinnacle Occupied an Hour. 



^'TTr^HE first day was spent in the inspection of the Hotel and 
^U^ Sanatorium, and the park generally, and in the afternoon an 
excursion to Pinnacle Mountain was inaugurated by Mr. Clair. 
Two large wagons were pressed into service, as well as all the 
available saddle-horses, and the cavalcade, which, in point of pic- 
turesqueness, eclipsed anything that had been seen in New -York 
the week before, wended its way to the top of the glorious moun- 
tain which " rears its proud head " 2700 feet above the hotel. 

The Pinnacle, which is the original mountain from which Daniel 
Boone viewed Kentucky, is approached by a rather steep and bad 
road, which passes directly through the historic Cumberland Gap, 
where the meeting-point of the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
Virginia is marked by a white stone. In view of the outrages 
which in past years have been committed here, one of a dark color 
should have been chosen, for this contiguity of the States made the 
place at one time very popular with a certain class of transgressors 
who found it very easy to evade the sheriff by the shortest kind of 
a promenade, which consisted in stepping from one State into the 
other. 



14 A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 




"At length all Clambered to a Point almost in the Clouds." 

The ascent of the Pinnacle occupied an hour, and was attended 
by a series of adventures which were innocent enough, notwith- 
standing the fact that several of the most competent surgeons in 
America were at hand to set broken bones. As the party ascended, 
a series of magnificent views burst upon them, but the first mishap 
occurred when the patient horses, either as a result of the 
stories told by the occupants of the stage, or from a sense of their 
own shortcomings, suddenly stopped, and though vain attempts 
were made to start the wagon, the load, with one exception, took 
to the road and finished the journey on foot. At length all clam- 
bered to a point almost in the clouds, from which a view could be 
obtained comprising the Great Smoky Mountains forty miles dis- 
tant, and points in five States. A mild breeze stirred the multi- 
colored leaves of the grove of chestnuts which tops the mountain, 
and caused a liberal scattering of the modest brown nut as if to 
rebuke the raconteurs of the party. The earthworks and rifle-pits 
occupied by the Northern and Southern troops during the late war 
were passed on the way down, and the party returned to the " Four 
Seasons " in time for the banquet. By accident most of the bag- 
gage had been left at Roanoke, two hundred miles back, and a 
feeling of discomfiture was everywhere manifest upon this chilling 
announcement. Several gentlemen who had left impromptu speeches 
in their trunks were specially annoyed, and various makeshifts 
were resorted to for the purpose of presenting a creditable appear- 
ance. One of the largest men in the party had four No. i8 collars, 
and there was a medical bridegroom at the hotel who proftered a 
dress-suit, but the suggestion of some one that this ceremonial 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 



15 



costume be divided up was voted down, and the original owner 
was left in undisputed possession, and came to the feast arrayed 
like Solomon in all his glory, but it is doubtful if he enjoyed his 
dinner more than his less fortunate brethren. 




■=-^V~'5»- " -^-».» 



X ;^ "■* >«'4^^=^'^^?'j?i^?ps:;.^ j 



The Sanatorium. 

However, we forgot all these little annoyances, and at eight 
o'clock sat down to. the table, having first assembled in the great 
drawing-room. The " Four Seasons " orchestra was stationed in 
the fernery, and during the dinner made a delightful accompani- 
ment to the merry conversation of the hungry doctors whose appe- 
tites had been sharpened by the keen mountain air. 



Mr. Clair had provided the following menu 




Banquet. 

TENDERED BY THE DIRECTORS TO THEIR MEDICAL FRIENDS. 

Huitres sur Coquilles. ^QUtePHQ^. 

Tortue Verte au Claip. ^ITlOrStillaslO. 



Boudins h la Villaret en Caisses. 

Saumon au Coquilles Homard, Sauce Riehe. 
Pommes Hollandaise. 

Filet de Boeuf a la Daumont. ^OPslCcVUX. 

Flageolets Maitre d'Hotel. 



Alias de Poulet, Duglere. Ct^amP^^De. 

Petits Pois a la Finaneiere. 



Petits Pains de Gibier en Danaier. 



Sorbet Cumberland. 



Perdreaux sur Canape. 

Glaees Fantaisie. Petits Fours. Biscuits de Savoil. 

Jelly Souffle au Tokay. Gateaux Assortis. 
Florentins. Pieces Montees. 

Fruits. Cafe. Cigars. Liqueurs. 

"FOUR SEASONS" HOTEL. 
OCTOBER 17, 1892. 



^oupfofne. 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 



17 



At the table were : 



Dr. A. McL. Hamilton 



Dr. 


Thruston 


* 




* Dr. 


L. A. Sayre 


Dr. 


Francis Bacon 


* 




* Dr. 


Barstow 


Mr 


OSBORN 


« 




* Dr. 


G. De F. Smith 


Dr. 


Kimball 


* 




* Dr. 


S. F. Morris 


Dr. 


C. A. LlNDSLEY 


* 




* Dr. 


S. 0. Vanderpoel 


Dr. 


J. W. Wright 


* 




* Dr. 


Maynard 


Dr. 


Coleman Rogers 


* 




* Dr. 


Andrew H. Smith 


Mr. 


C. D. Phelps 


* 




* Mr. 


Louis Hamilton 


Dr. 


N. S. Lincoln 


* 




* Dr. 


J. W. Brannan 


Dr. 


Fletcher Ingalls 


* 




* Mr. 


Humphrey 


1 .. 


* 
Mr. Bartlett 





After the dinner, which had been a matter of great soHcitude 
and the day-dream of the chef and his assistants for nearly a week, 
Dr. Sayre arose and said : 



Gentlemen : 

3T is with sincere regret that I have just learned from Dr. Ham- 
ilton that he is going to leave us in the morning, which is 
compulsory on account of business arrangements, and so that he 
can take the steamer for Europe next Thursday. We shall all miss 
his agreeable society very much, both here and on our return trip, 
and we cannot allow him to depart without first expressing our 
sense of deep obligation to him for the great pleasure he has given 
us, and I think it but right that we should publicly recognize the 
great service that he has done to suffering humanity throughout the 
country in originating and carrying out this magnificent enterprise. 
To me it is a revelation, a marvelous revelation. I have occa- 
sionally noticed some slight mention of it in the newspapers, but 



i8 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

never dreamed of anything at all like the magnitude and grandeur 
of what we all now see. 

The gorgeous scenery as we wound through the curves around 
the mountains, with their brilliant tints of foliage, was more bright 
and varied than I have ever seen in our Northern mountains, and 
gave a zest and a joy to the trip that I have never experienced in 
any other in my life. 

And then the most mysterious thing came; for after winding 
through these mountains in the darkness of the night, for about an 
hour catching an occasional glimpse of what seemed like a large 
city, in the dim distance was the " Four Seasons " Hotel, which, as we 
drew nearer, looked like a magnificent palace surrounded with col- 
umns, and brilliant with glimmering electric lights, and presenting 
such an unexpectedly beautiful sight that I was astounded. Then, 
for the first time, I heard that this was our place of destination. At 
one moment it was out of sight, and as we turned another curve I 
was surprised to see a large building, and another bend of the road 
brought us in view of still another. I was told that one was the 
Sanatorium and the other Harrogate Inn. 

You can imagine the effect upon a mind never dreaming of com- 
ing in contact with such a brilliant scene, and having it thrust upon 
one in an instant. It was the most surprising effect that I have 
ever experienced in my life. 

Then we arrived here, coming up a road of the most perfect 
grade, giving views of this beautiful palace from all its different 
angles, a most gorgeous sight with its 1600 electric lights, which 
seemed to multiply as we approached; and as we entered the grand 
hallway, with a band of music playing, it was certainly something 
nearer like fairy-land than anything I had ever seen. 

The courteous host, Mr. Clair, the manager of the house, received 
us with such genial kindness as to make everyone feel instantly at 
home, and almost as if our party owned the entire establishment. 

I was carried up in an elevator by a neatly uniformed darkey 
guide to the next floor, crossing a hall large enough for a ballroom 
to my parlor, which is larger than any of the private parlors in any 
of the Saratoga hotels I have visited, luxuriously furnished, and 
opening into a splendid bedroom, with a bathroom beside it that is 
actually larger than some of the bedrooms in any one of the most 
fashionable hotels in New-York. The linen, furniture, in fact all 



A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. I9 

the appointments of the house are as perfect as can possibly be. 
And the table, of which we have already seen so many good exam- 
ples, has certainly never been surpassed at any place. 

I have wandered through this house even to its kitchen apart- 
ments. Its furnishing is far superior to that of any house I have 
ever seen. 

One of the most important parts of the affair is the Sanatorium, 
which, though near, is so separated from this grand, magnificent 
palace of a hotel and its gaieties, as to be entirely secluded from 
it, and have no interference from its noise, thus giving the required 
rest to the patients. 

One new and important feature is a road winding up the hillside, 
from which there is an entrance to each floor, so that patients may 
be carried direct to their rooms without the use of an elevator. 

The construction of the building is most excellent, with its airy 
halls — all the rooms having windows. There are no dark recesses, 
no room without a beautiful external vista, giving all an expansive 
view of these most magnificent mountains. The nurses' apartments 
attached to each room give an elegance and luxury that I have 
never seen equaled. At the end of each floor a circular portico, 
inclosed in glass for a sun-bath during cold winter weather, makes 
a very delightful retreat for recreation. On the lower floor there is 
a gymnasium that is equal to one of Zander's best-appointed, with 
all the paraphernalia requisite for giving the proper massage and 
manipulation to the muscles of the body, and also every variety of 
bath, and a fine swimming-pool thirty feet square. 

But I was most impressed by the cooking and kitchen arrange- 
ments of the Sanatorium, where they make their own ice to pre- 
serve meats, etc., and everything is done in the most skilful man- 
ner ; for I think the great secret in restoring broken-down systems 
due to mental anxiety, and the strain and wear incident to our ner- 
vous, rushing mode of life, is to supply exhausted nature with a 
proper amount of palatable, nutritious, and easily assimilated food, 
so that she can restore vitality. 

Altogether, it seems to me to be the most perfect place for rest, 
recreation, and recuperation that can possibly be imagined; I 
think, therefore, that Dr. Hamilton, by his foresight and sagacity 
in selecting this beautiful, salubrious climate, with its magnificent 
mountain scenery, in which to establish a Sanatorium, is entitled to 

3 



20 A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 

great credit, and he certainly deserves much praise for the enter- 
prise and energy with which it has been accompHshed, and it ought 
to be a most triumphant success, as it will, as soon as it is prop- 
erly appreciated as a resting-place between the extreme north and 
south ; and from meteorological reports it also has the advantage 
of an equable and pleasant climate the year around. 

I, therefore, wish you all to join with me in giving our sincere 
and hearty thanks to Dr. Hamilton for the great pleasure he has 
given us, and for the great good he has done to the community and 
the profession, and wish him every success in his enterprise. 



The chairman. Dr. Hamilton, then replied as follows : 
Gentlemen : 

•^JT is difficult for me to say anything that could adequately 
^jl express my deep gratitude to you for what Dr. Sayre, as 
your spokesman, has said, or to impress you with my sincere plea- 
sure in having you about me to-night. Your presence and ap- 
proval of what you have seen is all the encouragement the most 
exacting person could ask, and I assure you that the hard work I 
have done in the past two years in addition to my professional 
duties in perfecting this enterprise has been amply rewarded by 
your indorsement. 

Several years ago, Mr. John Baillie, of London, with Sir Morell 
Mackenzie and myself, conceived the idea of establishing in Amer- 
ica an international health resort upon a scale of great magnifi- 
cence. The place chosen was Ocala, Florida, a most beautiful spot, 
and negotiations were undertaken to capitalize the scheme. But 
owing to the appearance of yellow fever in Florida, and the death 
of one of these gentlemen, the project was abandoned, and it was 
not until some time afterward that my attention was directed to 
eastern Tennessee by some one who had wandered over these hills, 
and been invigorated by the delicious air. 

Cumberland Gap was visited and found to be, all things con- 
sidered, the most healthful region, in my opinion, in America. 
Pulmonary disease was almost unheard of, and the dry and moder- 
ate elevation of the district was believed to be admirably suited to 
invalids of all kinds. Then began the laborious work of getting 



A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 21 

the better class of physicians interested in its development, and 
this was a difficult matter, as heretofore most sanitaria had anything 
but a high scientific standing. The scheme, however, appealed to 
the medical profession so directly that a number of my good friends, 
both here and in London, agreed to form a Medical Advisory 
Board. Then money had to be raised, and ultimately nearly 
$2,000,000 were contributed to make Cumberland Gap Park and 
Harrogate what they now are. The directors, believing that the 
true policy was to spare no expense to secure perfection, imme- 
diately engaged the services of two of the best-known sanitarians 
to lay out the grounds, inspect the plans, and suggest to the archi- 
tect, Mr. W. B. Bigelow, of New- York, all possible sanitary improve- 
ments and adjuncts. It is unnecessary for me to speak to you of 
the eminence of Dr. J. S. Billings, Surg. U. S. A., LL. D., and Colonel 
Geo. E. Waring, M. I. C. E., for it was these gentlemen who have 
given us the benefit of all their experience. 

Nearly six miles of macadamized roads were built over the 
mountains, and about the buildings, and a complete sewerage 
system and water-works were established; and then two magnifi- 
cent buildings were erected, the " Four Seasons " Hotel and the 
Sanatorium, the former being one of the largest hotels in the 
world, with a frontage of 750 feet, which is equal to the length of 
three and a half blocks in New- York city. You have traversed the 
miles of corridor, and been through the building, so I need say 
little in the way of description, except to emphasize the fact that it 
is practically a small town in itself, having its own ice and electric- 
light plants, its printing-office, and every labor-saving appliance. 

You have visited the Sanatorium, have inspected its architectural 
features, ventilation, baths, sterilizing chambers, solaria, and gym- 
nasium, and to-morrow I hope you will be able to visit the spring 
house, and the sulphur and iron springs. 

My associates and myself have provided this place as a dis- 
tinctly American health resort. We have done our best, and have 
spared no expense or pains to provide everything that could be 
bought or devised by skilful artisans throughout the country. We 
have felt that there was no reason for Americans to wander aim- 
lessly all over Europe for health, while at their very doors they 
could find springs equal to any, doctors who were their country- 
men, and comforts that were, as they say in France, fin de siecle. 



22 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

It is true we have no Royalty to cast that glamor over the amuse- 
ments or cause the feminine flutter that attends the Prince of 
Wales's visits to Homburg — and so far we have not imported any 
German princes or Italian counts, but they doubtless can be pro- 
vided if a demand is created. 

We have the advice of the best obtainable board of physicians, 
the best sanitary advisers, and the best architects, and we have the 
utmost confidence in our manager, Mr. Clair, whose popularity 
needs no comment. 

We have built this place in the most accessible part of America, 
in a State which is celebrated for its healthfulness, adjoining two 
others whose history and traditions are the most romantic in 
America. One of these States is noted for its superb horses — its 
brave men and beautiful women — its blue grass and blue blood — 
and I shall call upon Dr. Coleman Rogers, of Louisville, to respond 
to the toast of " Kentucky." 



Mr. Chairman: 

'3j^EF0RE we assembled on this pleasant occasion, my good old 
^^ friend Dr. Sayre, a veteran himself in matters of this kind, 
hinted to me that he was going to call upon me to respond to a 
toast to our distinguished host. Dr. Hamilton, who, to judge by 
what we have seen here, excels as much in the role of an amphi- 
tryon as he does in his chosen calling ; and we know what he is in 
that. I implored Dr. Sayre to pass me severely by, assuring him 
that in post-prandial and other oratory I was sadly deficient. But 
with downright meanness and malice prepense. Dr. Sayre has car- 
ried out his threat by having Dr. Hamilton call on me, and forced 
me to say something. Lord knows the theme is inspiring enough, 
only I doubt my abihty to do justice to it. If I was painfully con- 
scious before of being sadly lacking in the suaviter in modo et fo?-- 
titir ifi re, which, being freely translated, means the " gift of gab," 
how must I feel now in the presence of such a symposium as this, 
facing as I do all these learned Thebans at the festive board ? 
However much I may feel, I cannot express it. If I could give 
utterance to my thoughts and express a tithe of the satisfaction this 
visit has afforded me, of the delight which will be perennial with 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 23 

me, and in fitting terms tell how grateful we all are to the dispenser 
of all this pleasure during our sojourn in this charming place, our 
kind friend and confrere Dr. Hamilton, I would do so, but words 
fail me. The task is too great. For myself and for all of us, I in- 
dorse to the full all that Dr. Sayre has said. 

When we came down on this visit to Dr. Hamilton's bantling, or 
rather, I may say, to his twin bantlings, — viz., the "Four Seasons" 
Hotel and Sanatorium, — we expected a glorious time, for we knew 
that Dr. Hamilton never did anything by halves. But in our fond- 
est dreams of pleasure we were not prepared for what has been un- 
folded to us during the past three joyous days. Ever since our 
arrival here, it has been nothing but a series of surprises. Our eyes 
have been staring in wonderment at every turn. Of course we ex- 
pected to see a well-kept and well-appointed hotel, and a Sanato- 
rium suited to its purposes, but away down here in the rugged hills 
and amid the wilds of Tennessee, and in sight of that gap and that 
old wilderness road through which Daniel Boone and his little 
band wended their way to old Kentucky, we were not prepared to 
find the palaces of Aladdin which met our gaze. Were there ever 
such elegance and comfort as we find here, such conveniences to 
meet every want, such politeness from the highest to the lowest, such 
a boniface as Mr. Clair ? — all these on the inside ; and on the out- 
side such air; and can the far-famed Yosemite surpass what we 
have witnessed in grandeur of scenery ! We cannot gild refined 
gold, nor paint the lily. Our vocabulary falls short when we at- 
tempt to give even the faintest conception of the beauties to be 
found in this magnificent spot. The sick and the well need go no 
farther than Harrogate for rest and recreation. The people of the 
South need flock no longer to White Sulphur, to Aiken, to Ashe- 
ville, to Jacksonville. This hereafter should be their Mecca. This 
enterprise deserves success, and will most certainly attain it. The 
beauties of Harrogate cannot long be hidden, even if we, one and 
all of us, do not herald them forth to our friends everywhere. 
When we go back home and relate what we have seen here, the 
half of it won't be believed, but let the doubting Thomases come 
down and see for themselves. All honor then be given Dr. Ham- 
ilton and his associates for their foresight and public spirit in father- 
ing and carrying out a scheme which has given this country such 
an hotel, and such a sanatorium, with such surroundings. 



24 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

But as if our genial host had already not done enough to complete 
the pleasure of our sojourn here, and in addition show the possibili- 
ties of this hotel, as a crowning glory to the wholej as a kind of 
stirrup-cup on the eve of our departure, see what he has spread 
before us to-night ! God be praised that we are partakers of his 
largess, for surely our Lucullus outshines himself to-night. Can 
we realize the fact that away down here, far from the madding 
crowd, just on the outskirts of civilization, in the mountains of Ten- 
nessee, he gives us a feast which from start to finish, ab ovo usque ad 
mala, Delmonico in all his glory cannot excel. The keen regret 
at leaving the " Four Seasons " Hotel is softened by the reflection 
that it will not be long before we will revisit it, and again enjoy its 
comforts. Success to it and to all connected with it, say we, one 
and all. 

The Chairman. — Upon my right is a gentleman who comes 
from a part of the country and a city celebrated as one of the most 
advanced seats of learning in America. I mean New England and 
New Haven, and the name of Bacon is so closely identified with 
education in the East, that any utterance of its clever represen- 
tative will be listened to with pleasant anticipation, and I therefore 
propose the health of Dr. Francis Bacon and New England. 

Dr. Bacon then responded in a witty speech, in which he referred 
to his approval of all that had been done, and alluded to the rhe- 
torical talent of his fellow-townsman Dr. Lindsley, the secretary of 
the State Board of Health of Connecticut, who was present, and 
referred to a most eloquent address this gentleman had made quite 
recently at a dinner given by an association of undertakers. Dr. 
Bacon hoped that Dr. Lindsley might be induced to repeat his 
speech.* 

* Owing to the inability of the editor to get Dr. Bacon's speech, this gentle- 
man's graceful remarks cannot be produced in their entirety, but parts of a letter 
since received are published with his permission : 

32 High Street, New Haven, 
Nov. 17th, 1892. 
My dear Dr. Hamilton : I have been waiting to hear of your return to express 
to you my most appreciative thanks for your splendid hospitality, which gave to 
our party a week of such peculiar and exceptional pleasure. The week you se- 
lected was, whether by happy chance or sagacious forecast, the very crown of our 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 25 



Mr. Chairman and Fellow Guests : 

jfV[Y Y friend Dr. Bacon puts me under great embarrassment by 
igf^w calling me to my feet as a "fluent speaker" and a man 
" of undaunted courage before any audience." 

I know he means well, but, aside from the domain of surgery, he 
is frequently subject to draw false conclusions from insufficient data. 
In the present instance he confessedly inferred all that he said about 
me from the fact that I had recently delivered an address before a 
State convention of funeral directors. Since he has called my at- 
tention to it, I think I can understand that it may be that a man 

peerless American autumn, and tlie only drawback to our complete enjoyment 
of it was the malign decree of destiny that bore you away untimely before it was 
finished. 

I have not even the vaguest remembrance of what I said at the banquet — ex- 
cept a general impression that it was quite inadequate to the occasion. What I 
should have said is that after recovering from the first astonishment at the sight 
of the sumptuous " Four Seasons " Hotel with its surroundings, standing as an 
oasis of high civilization in the midst of the wilderness of mountains, I was im- 
pressed, not so much with the generous splendor of all its appointments, — for 
that is a quality purchasable by any one who can make the necessary great out- 
lay of capital, — as with the admirable taste and judgment which are everywhere 
visible in the perfect fitness, both of the hotel and Sanatorium, to their respective 
purposes. 

The latter especially won my admiration by offering not only every comfort 
that an exigent chronic invalid would desire to surround himself with, but also 
in its varied and elaborate bath-arrangements of all kinds, its ample solaria, its 
electrical, gymnastic, and inhalation apparatus, the most complete assemblage of 
remedial appliances that I have ever seen beneath one roof, either in this country 
or in Europe. 

When the value and extent of the resources of this establishment become gen- 
erally known, they are sure to be in very wide request both by physicians and 
patients. 

The admirable climatic qualities of the great upland region in which the hotel 
and Sanatorium have been so wisely placed, have long been recognized by clima- 
tologists, and are now becoming a matter of popular knowledge. 

The brilliant dry atmosphere enhances the loveliness of the noble mountain 
landscape, and gives it an indescribable charm to one coming from the stormy 
north Atlantic seaboard or the chill humidity of the great lakes. 

I have a grateful remembrance of the effect of the climate in my own case, for 
after three days' sojourn in it, I left behind me for good an odious bronchial irri- 
tation, which had harassed me for a month, and which I had fully expected to 
fight for the rest of the autumn and winter. 

Though I cannot, as you have requested, recall what I said at your delightful 
banquet, and though, by that fact, I am sure I said nothing worth recalling, yet 
you will believe me, dear Dr. Hamilton, that it was from no lack of appreciation 
of how great natural advantages have been seized and developed, and a sagacious 
plan nobly carried out in the building of this splendid establishment, to which, 
not only for its own deserts but for the public good, I wish an abundant success. 

Yours sincerely, 

Fr's Bacon. 



26 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

who has practised surgery for forty years as extensively as Dr. 
Bacon has throughout Connecticut may have very good reasons 
for thinking it requires a bold man to meet a State Convention of 
funeral directors. But, however surgeons may grow timid in the 
presence of undertakers, we physicians, in the practice of medicine, 
acquire no such fear of them, and it never occurred to me until Dr. 
Bacon mentioned it that I should be credited with any degree of 
heroism in meeting them. Indeed, I think it a trivial matter to 
face a company of men who never pursue a man until he is dead, 
as compared with the bravery necessary to suddenly stand all un- 
prepared, as I do now, before an audience hke the present — of 
the brightest intellects of the medical and legal professions. 

I know my friend Dr. Bacon always means well in all he says, 
but his illogical reflections lead him again to the absurd, when he 
suggests that I should rehearse that funereal address on the present 
festive occasion. 

While, therefore, I cannot feel grateful to my friend for the man- 
ner of my introduction, yet I may thank him for the opportunity it 
gives me to express my sense of gratitude to our host for the deep 
delight and pleasure which I have constantly enjoyed as one of his 
guests — a feeling in which I know you all participate. But there 
is another feeling, stronger, more profound, and lasting than the 
mere sense of personal gratification, which I find growing within 
me during my brief sojourn amid these charming surroundings. It 
comes from a consciousness that a higher and nobler purpose than 
that of affording the means of mere physical pleasure is sought to 
be accomplished by the liberal-minded men who have undertaken 
this grand enterprise. 

The best benefactors of the human race are not those only who 
seek out individual instances of suffering and want, and by personal 
attention and pecuniary aid give temporary relief. There are also 
benefactors and true philanthropists in the highest sense, who, with 
a broader grasp of the subject of humanity, plan and devise means 
of benefiting large numbers of their fellow-beings. 

There are many directions in which philanthropy may find fruit- 
ful exercise, but there are no fields of labor in behalf of humanity 
where well-directed effort is more noble, more effective, or more 
far-reaching in good results than when devoted to the improvement 
of the public health. 



A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 27 

Such effort is not limited to public health boards, with their too 
frequently unscientific and crude methods. It is always private en- 
terprise which leads or points the way in all great undertakings, in 
all untrodden paths. 

Cumberland Gap Park presents a striking instance of such en- 
terprise. Its broad-minded and liberal-hearted projectors have 
evidently an unbounded faith in the work they have undertaken. 

They have recognized and appreciated the unsurpassed and su- 
perb conditions which nature has provided in this locality, and they 
have undertaken to make available for the sick and the feeble the 
exhaustless treasures of the health-giving, life-invigorating agencies 
so bountifully found here. 

The establishment of sanitaria in many places in this country 
and Europe marks the progress of medical science. They indicate 
a stage in its evolution of exceeding interest and importance. 

So long as mankind is heir to ills so numerous, the physician, as 
the curer of disease, will not be without occupation. I always had 
and I always shall entertain a high respect for him as a most im- 
portant factor in promoting the happiness of his fellow-creatures. 
But in the future — yes, in the present, even — his vocation is mark- 
edly modified. As the care-taker of health, he is not now, as for- 
merly, a mere giver of drugs, and administerer of doses; but he 
must be a preventer as well as curer of disease. He has both 
gained and lost faith in the apothecary's stock. With a more ac- 
curate knowledge of the action and effects of medicines, he has 
learned better their power, and also their frequent impotency. 
Without wholly deserting the shelves of the druggist, he often seeks 
other means of relief for his patients. And so he has come to know 
that there are more powerful remedies than pills and potions — that 
salubrious surroundings, pure air, a dry soil, an equable tempera- 
ture, and other natural climatic conditions are in many instances 
more revivifying and tonic in their effects, more remedial and re- 
storative than anything among the stores of the botanist or among 
the products of the chemist's laboratory. 

As I gazed this morning from my window, and saw the rising 
sun first gilding the tops of the distant mountains, and then in its 
glorious splendor illuminating the broad valley of the Cumberland, 
and as I inhaled the balmy air, fragrant with the delicious odors of 



28 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

the surrounding forests, I felt that I was inspiring health and vigor 
distilled from nature's own laboratories. 

Cumberland Gap Park opens to the world a region from which 
the world has heretofore been excluded, a region in which the god- 
dess Hygeia has uninterrupted sovereignty. 

It is not a mere summer resort; it is not a winter resort only; 
but it is a resort equally salutary all the year round, and to the 
natural advantages and attractions has been added this magnifi- 
cent and palatial hostelry, of capacity for over 500 guests, and 
with every attention in detail, to the most scientific sanitary 
construction. 

Not only that, but we have been shown to-day, by our distin- 
guished host, another edifice, the Sanatorium, so called, for the 
reception and treatment of health-seekers who need seclusion from 
the excitement and bustle of hotel life, and such further aids to 
recovery as are only available by special provision. The Sana- 
torium is not too far away, nor yet too near. As a hospital, it may 
justly be said there is not another in America better appointed 
with all the appliances that science and art can suggest for the 
benefit of invaHds. 

Its stately and imposing appearance externally is a trustworthy 
guarantee of the pleasant comforts of the interior. 

I predict for Cumberland Gap Park, for the " Four Seasons," 
and for the Sanatorium a future popularity unsurpassed by any 
similar institutions in this country. 

The Chairman. — When we left New- York I invited a gentle- 
man, who has a mind of his own though he is brought in contact 
with a great many topsyturvy ones during the year, to leave his 
work and accompany us. It was no aff"ront to you, gentlemen, 
and no reflection to introduce an alienist, for there is no one here 
who has even a " fixed delusion " regarding his profession. Dr. 
Barstow, however, is many things else. He is not only what 
one of my flighty patients, who is a " lady magazine " journalist, 
would call " an elegant conversationalist," but an authority upon 
sanitaria, for he is at the head of one of the best-appointed in the 
country, and you all know what his claims are as a botanist ; so I 
hope he will lay down his 7oeed and let us hear from him. 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 



29 



Mr. Chairmati and Gentlemen : 

'^^^HEN I accepted the invitation of our hospitable friend, 
^uAhl^C' Dr. Hamilton, I had little idea, and I am sure none of 
us could anticipate, what a reception awaited us at Harrogate, and 
what a dreamland we were about to visit. The lights of Aladdin's 
palace could not be more dazzling than the view of the " Four 
Seasons " Hotel, as it burst upon our vision last night on our arri- 
val — and to-day we have been shown the inner glories of this 
temple, and we have visited the Sanatorium, which to the profes- 
sional eye eclipses even the hotel in the appropriateness of its con- 
struction and in its marvelous beauty of finish. I thought I already 
knew something of sanitaria and rest cures — but it has been re- 
served for to-day to see what perfection it is possible to attain in 
this direction. 

Unique in many of its features is this beautiful sanatorium which 
our host has originated. The ingenious placing of the building so 
that each of its three stories can be reached by a carriage drive, is 
of itself a novel and admirable feature. The internal structure and 
arrangement of the building are apparently perfect. Everything 
seems provided for, the baths in every variety, the gymnasium with 
its complete apparatus, the massage-rooms, the electric-rooms, the 
halls, the bedrooms, the dining-rooms, the kitchens, all furnished 
with every appliance for the luxurious comfort of patients as well 
as for their appropriate treatment. Nothing seems to have been 
omitted or forgotten. 

But above all and around all and within reach of all is this 
glorious atmosphere of Cumberland Gap (whose strength-giving 
quality we have already tested in climbing to "the Pinnacle" to- 
day) — this soft but bracing air, which is of itself food and rest and 
refreshment. 

Surely, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, we have come to an ideal 
place. And now, as we thank our gracious host and his coadju- 
tors for their hospitality and kindness, let us also pay a generous 
tribute to the genius and skill which have conceived and completed 
this magnificent scheme; and let us all strive as best we may to 
promote the future success of the "Four Seasons" Hotel and 
Sanatorium of Cumberland Gap. 



30 A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 

Dr. Vanderpoel's speech. 

Mr. Chairman a fid Gentlemen : 

'^^ j'HEN our party left New-York on Saturday evening, and 
^W^U^V started on our journey south, we were all prepared to 
find something in the way of an hotel and sanatorium quite out of 
the ordinary ; but I believe you will all agree with me, gentlemen, 
when I say that what we did find, in reality far exceeded in gran- 
deur, extent, and completeness of equipment any preconceived ideas 
we may have formed on the subject. To my mind, the principle 
upon which this health resort is started — namely, of separating the 
invalids proper from those guests who are simply in pursuit of plea- 
sure and recreation, and still having them so adjacent that inter- 
course between the two classes is possible and convenient, if 
desired — is, I say, the true one; for every one who has had any 
experience in health resorts knows full well how distressing, and 
oftentimes depressing, it is for nervous guests to be constantly, more 
or less, thrown in intimate contact with the invalid. The atmosphere 
becomes, so to speak, contaminated with the idea of sickness, and 
many a one is frequently deterred from going to such a place by 
just such annoyances. But here this problem has evidently been 
well thought over and admirably carried out, by the erection of a 
sanatorium second to none in extent, stability of construction, or 
applicability to the purpose for which it was erected, either in this 
country or in Europe, as its possibilities of cure and the care of 
those ill embrace in their scope almost the entire range of medical 
therapeutics. For consider what we saw this morning when we 
made our tour of inspection, — in the first place a building most im- 
posing externally, and most charmingly located, and, as one of the 
gentlemen expressed it in referring to the view, presenting a stretch 
of landscape in itself quite sufficient to make one well ; and, sec- 
ondly, an interior so admirably arranged to meet the wants and re- 
quirements of the sick, with its complete electro-therapeutic outfit, 
its magnificent Russian and Turkish baths, with the facihties for 
douches and massage, in conjunction with which is to be found the 
well-appointed gymnasium for those able to avail themselves of it un- 
der the physician's direction. Then, too, the comfortable, snug, and 
well-ventilated rooms provided for the patients, each thoroughly 



A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 3I 

furnished with its fireplace, and, in fact, with ever}-thing that can be 
required to add to the creature comforts of the inmates. When we 
consider this, and also that this establishment is placed in the hands 
of a most competent and able physician, the thought must occur to 
one and all of us that this is precisely the spot to send that large 
class of neurotic patients who require not only the proper atmo- 
spheric influences and surroundings incident to change, but also 
that their treatment may be intelligently directed by a physician 
who is thoroughly equipped with an armamentarium suitable to cope 
with their malady, and that they may not fall, as is now too fre- 
quently the case, into the hands of the charlatan. When we con- 
sider all this, I repeat, where can another such place be found? 
To me the opportunity of seeing this institution has been one not only 
of great pleasure but also of profit, inasmuch as I now feel prepared 
to refer patients of the class mentioned, intelligently, and also 
others requiring change, to a spot where they may recuperate un- 
der the most delightful surroundings. And I feel confident that, 
were the knowledge of these facts known to the profession at large, 
this institution would be soon filled to its full capacity. I cannot 
close without tendering to the managers of this enterprise, and to 
Dr. Hamilton in particular, my congratulations on the spirit of enter- 
prise that conceived this idea, and also that they then had the cour- 
age of their convictions, as is shown in their placing such a vast 
amount of money in the venture. That they will meet with a full 
measure of deserved success is mv firm conviction. 



Dr. S. F. Morris of New- York, being called upon, said: 

Mr. Chairman : 

'^TJf^HEX I met you at the feny, on giving me instructions as 
^UAu^V to finding the car, you said "' the lower berths were re- 
served for the old men." It was with some trepidation that I asked 
the location of my berth. Great was my satisfaction, when an up- 
per berth was assigned me, to feel that I still was a young man. 
Later on, however, I was surprised and disappointed to find that I 
had been allotted a lower berth, and thus relegated to the band of 



32 A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 

old men. The abrupt change did not disturb my night's rest, and 
in the morning all disappointment was forgotten in the enjoyment 
of the beautiful country through which we were traveling. That 
evening, when suddenly the " Four Seasons," with its myriads of 
electric lights, came into view, the effect was like a scene from fairy- 
land ; then was I not only surprised, but astonished. Subsequently, 
when I saw your magnificent hotel, with its beautiful appointments 
complete in all respects, and your Sanatorium so well arranged and 
equipped with all that was latest and best, especially its bathing 
arrangements and its electrical appliances, my wonder grew. In 
the location you have selected, in the grounds as well as the build- 
ings, you have an almost ideal place, and I think I am but uttering 
the feelings of my companions when I say to you and your associ- 
ates in this great undertaking, that if good wishes and kind words 
can make it a success it will be most successful. 

The Chairman. — We have here to-night two distinguished 
members of the large and influential family of Smiths, and I shall 
call upon Dr. Andrew H., who, though he has zuorked Jinder pres- 
sure to alleviate the sufferings of the many patients who flock to 
him, has, so far, not suffered from any of the consequences of any 
kind of " ringing in the ears." We shall be pleased to hear from 
Dr. Smith. 



Dr. Smith's speech. 

Mr. Chairman : 

^If' HOUGH there are only two of us here to-night, I believe 
\^ that if one of the occasional conventions of the Smith family 
we read of in the newspapers was to be held in this place, the 
" Four Seasons " Hotel would be large enough to hold all the dele- 
gates without any crowding whatever. I have been more than 
surprised at the provisions that have been made, and the unex- 
pected magnificence of the buildings. Perhaps I am better quali- 
fied to speak of sanitaria than others here, for a few years ago I 
made a systematic tour of the health resorts east of the Mississippi, 
and I am certain that there is nothing to be compared with the 



A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 33 

Hotel of the " Four Seasons," and the Sanatorium connected there- 
with, in the completeness of the appointments for the comfort of 
invalids. I am peculiarly impressed by the perfect adaptation of 
the Sanatorium to the wants of the sick; by the arrangements of the 
baths, gymnasium, Swedish movements, solaria, and the fact that 
each floor opens out on to the grounds on the same level, so that 
each story is a ground floor. 

The atmosphere is peculiarly invigorating. I feel my physical 
self-respect increased 200 per cent, by the amount of mountain- 
climbing I have been able to accomplish to-day without fatigue, 
and which, in a less invigorating atmosphere, would probably have 
been impossible. 

It is difficult to realize, after the brilliant occasion which we have 
all enjoyed to-night, and partaking of the superb banquet, that such 
things are possible in a place that was but a few months ago little 
more than a wilderness. 

We are all very much indebted to Dr. Hamilton for arranging this 
very deHghtful excursion for us, and one of its most enjoyable features 
is that physicians who before have known each other but slightly, 
are brought into intimate relations, and form many pleasant acquain- 
tances. I express the wish that Dr. Hamilton's voyage will be success- 
ful, and assure him that our good wishes go with him over the ocean. 



The Chairman. — A few years ago, upon the occasion of the 
strife that to some persons suggested the possibility of another civil 
war, — I mean the selection of a site for the World's Fair, — a rep- 
resentative in Congress for North Carolina gravely nominated Mid- 
dlesborough, Kentucky, as the most available spot in the country, 
and when I remind you that Middlesborough is three years old, and 
but five miles from this dinner-table, you can understand the mo- 
tives that prompted this somewhat quixotic proposition. However, 
I believe Chicago in its great good fortune has forgiven its lesser 
rivals. New- York and Middlesborough, and I am sure my distin- 
guished friend. Dr. Fletcher Ingalls, of Chicago, will not permit any 
rancor of the past to deter him from responding to-night. I there- 
fore propose his very good health. 



34 A DOCTOR S PILGRIMAGE. 

Gentlemen: 

3 CAN heartily indorse what has been said by Dr. Sayre and 
others about our delightful surroundings. The earth and air 
and sky seem at this time to have united here to contribute to our 
pleasure. I was greatly surprised to find here in the mountains 
such a perfect hotel in all its appointments. The clear sky and pure 
air lull one to repose under its broad verandas, and the view ob- 
tained from the mountain-tops fills one with admiration for the 
grandeur of the scenery. I have been much gratified at the thor- 
ough equipment of the Sanatorium, which seems to offer all of the 
conveniences and comforts which the sick can require; and a long 
acquaintance with the gentleman (Dr. Maynard) who has taken 
charge of its medical management enables me to express the greatest 
confidence in the methods which will be employed for the relief of 
those who shall profit by the advantages which it offers. I can 
assure you also that patients you may send here will be treated 
ethically and courteously, and that everything will be done that you 
may desire for their well-being. 

Such advantages as the hotel, the Sanatorium, and these wonder- 
ful surroundings offer, must within a short time make this a verita- 
ble Mecca for those who desire rest and relaxation, as well as for 
the sick who need a comfortable home, where they may be under 
the constant care of an experienced physician. 

I only regret that our stay here must be so short, but I hope 
that we may again meet under these beautiful skies, and enjoy the 
beauty of this glorious landscape. 



Mr. Phelps, being called upon, said: 

Gentiemefi : 

\0\] have had a surfeit of the good things of life, — good 
speeches, magnificent scenery, pleasant surroundings, — 
everything that would make your visit here delightful, pleasant, 
and memorable ; and now, by way of variety, our good host has 
thought well to inflict on you something that was not good, in call- 
ing on me to make a few remarks. 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 



35 



My feelings now remind me forcibly of those of a gentleman I 
had occasion to meet some time ago. I was called hurriedly to a 
little town, way up in New England, to make an examination before 
the national officers should come in, and the president of the insti- 
tution, after introducing me to all his directors and friends, and 
telling them explicitly the object of my being there, took me to one 
side and confidentially said : "I hope, Mr. Phelps, you won't say 
anything about what you find here, for we don't want folks to know 
what fools we are about the banking business." I could have 
made that same plea, as regards speech-making, with a good grace, 
had I known that I was to be called on to address you. 

After the pleasant, witty speeches we have listened to, after the 
graceful compliments to the hotel and its equipments, the courteous 
hospitality of the management, that has done so much for our en- 
joyment, and all the varied phases of the beautiful surroundings 
here, there is very little remaining to be said. 

I am sure we have all enjoyed to the utmost the pleasant trip 
down, the delightful drives of yesterday and to-day, the appetizing 
climb to the Pinnacle Rock — and all these things will remain with 
us as a pleasant recollection of our visit to one of the most delight- 
ful spots we have ever seen. 

There can be only one result to the energy and enterprise that 
has founded this beautiful resort, and that result is success. If 
what we have heard to-night is any criterion that success is assured, 
it has our best wishes, and you will all join heartily with me in the 
toast, " Success to the ' Four Seasons.' " 

Short speeches were made by Drs. Thruston, J. W. Wright, and 
Kimball, and Messrs. Humphreys and Bartlett. 



Speech of Dr. John Winters Brannan. 

Mr. Chairman : 

"•^[[T has fallen to my lot this evening to be the last one to give 
jl his impressions of this delightful place to which Dr. Hamilton 
has brought us. Not much, therefore, is left for me to say. I can 
only join in the general expression of pleasure and appreciation of 
all that has been done to make our trip enjoyable. 

5 



^6 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

I attempted to tell Dr. Hamilton this afternoon how charmed I 
was with the beauty of Harrogate, but he seemed to think that I 
had hardly been here long enough to form a fair opinion of its 
merits as a pleasure and health resort. He has heard enough this 
evening, however, to convince him that we all think ourselves 
qualified not only to form but to express opinions on this subject. 

There is but one cloud upon our happiness to-night, and per- 
haps I should do well to follow your example in avoiding all allu- 
sion to it. But I cannot refrain from saying how very sorry I am 
that Dr. Hamilton is to leave us in the morning. Two days still 
remain of our stay at Harrogate, and I hope that Dr. Hamilton 
may be persuaded to remain with us to the end, and thus make 
our joy complete. I ask you all to join with me in requesting him 
to change his plans if it is at all possible for him to do so. 



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/|^N Tuesday and Wednesday the time of the party was occu- 
\J^ pied in visiting the coal-mines at Middlesborough, the 
springs, and in ridmg over the Company's property, and three of 
the more daring, accompanied by Colonel Key, the master of cere- 
monies, went out in search of quail and 
wild turkey. Unfortunately, the soil was 
so dry that the dogs could not get scent, 
and the expedition consisted simply of a 
tramp. Every precaution had been taken 
to make the sport as harmless as it is in 
France, and, though the dogs were not 
provided with shot-proof suits of mail, and 
no special instructions were given as to 
"The Party was Occupied ^^^ ^^^^ of carrying guns and lifting them 

inVisiting the Coal-mines." •, r .i ,i xi 

^ over rail fences, the three gentlemen re- 

turned unharmed, and empty-handed. 

The Powells River Cave was visited on Tuesday, and displays 
of horsemanship were again presented which were exceedingly 
creditable. The sim- 
ple inhabitants were 
quite unaware of the 
important caval- 
cade that wound its 
way over the Pow- 
ells River road, but 
it would be strange 
if the children on 
the roadside did not 
incidentally put out "If the Children on the Roadside did not Incidentally 
their tongues and Put out Their Tongues." 

take to the woods impressed with the distinctly professional air 
of the procession. 

The wonders of the cave were enjoyed, and the Haystack ad- 
mired, and the musical qualities of the stalactites brought forth with 




3^ 



A DOC'l'OR S PILGRIMAGE. 




" Tlie Three Gentlemen Returned Unharmed." 
the same precision that many unfortunate consumptives had been 
subjected to in Northern cities through advanced methods of per- 
cussion, and then, fording the river and skirting its peaceful banks, 
they found their way back to the hotel, none the worse for their 
long day. 




A doctor's pilgrimage. 



39 




The Haystack. 



40 A DOCTORS PILGRIMAGE. 

The Chairman and Dr. Vanderpoel had left for New- York on 
Tuesday morning, and the remainder of the party again boarded 
the car " Celtic," which had been drawn up to a siding, and at an 
early hour started on their homeward journey. 

It would be monotonous to refer to the many incidents of the re- 
turn trip, except to say that every mile increased the good fellow- 
ship and unloosed a flood of anecdote and pleasantry. 

Every one felt younger and better for the change, and the veteran 
of the party, who under no circumstances could ever be considered 
old, in spite of all his valuable work, read the following verses : 

To Dr. Lewis A. Sayre on his eighteenth birthday, February 29th, 
1892. From Dr. Huntington, Rector of Grace Church, New- 



York. 



Dear Doctor Sayre, and can it be 

That Nature set her clock for you 

Some four and fifty years too slow? 

How clever of her to foreknow 

That you would keep yourself so young. 

So firm of heart, 

So stout of lung. 

That she would never be detected. 

Or you so much as e'en suspected 

Of being older by a day 

Than leap-year records seem to say ! 

Eighteen, dear friend, or seventy-two, 

Whiche'er it be, 

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ! 




A doctor's pilgrimage. 41 

And in this connection reference was made to the influence of 
medical practice in bringing to its followers a certain kind of vivacity 
and youthfulness, which is even shown in the face of hard work and 
oftentimes persistent struggle ; and allusion was made to Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, and his perennial vigor and freshness of mind and 
feeling. It seemed that one of the number, Dr. Andrew H. Smith, 
had been present with others at a dinner given to Dr. Holmes by the 
medical profession of New-York on the occasion of his seventieth 
birthday, and read an original poem, which he was induced to repeat : 

You 've heard of the Deacon's one-hoss shay, 
Which, finished in Boston the self-same day 
That the City of Lisbon went to pot, 
Did a century's service, and then was not — 
But the record 's at fault which says that it "bust" 
Into simply a heap of amorphous dust; 
For, after the wreck of that wonderful tub. 
Out of the ruin they saved a hub. 
And the hub has since stood for Boston town — 
"Hub of the Universe" — ^note that down! 
But an ordinary hub, as all will own. 
Must have something central to turn upon ; 
And, rubber-cushioned and true and bright, 
We have the axle here to-night. 
Thrice welcome, then, to our festal board 
The doctor-poet, so doubly stored 
With science as well as with native wit 
(Poeta nascitur, you know, non fit). 
Skilled to dissect with knife or pen 
His subjects — dead or living men; 
With thoughts sublime on every page 
To swell the veins with virtuous rage ; 
Or, with a syringe, to inject them 
With sublimate to disinfect them ; 
To show with demonstrator's art 
The complex chambers of the heart ; 
Or, armed with a diviner skill, 
To make it pulsate at his will; 
In generous verse to celebrate 
The loaves and fishes of some giver, 
And then proceed to demonstrate 
The lobes and fissures of the liver; 



42 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

With strains from his prophetic lyre 

To make each nerve a trembling wire ; 

Or to describe with care laborious 

Nervus Spinalis Accessorius ; 

To move with fervor of appeal 

The sluggish muscles into steel ; 

Or, pulling their attachments, show 

Whence they rise and whence they go ; 

To fire the eye by wit consummate, 

Or draw the aqueous humor from it; 

In times of peril give the tone 

To public feeling, called "backbone"; 

Or to discuss that question solemn — 

The muscles of the spinal column. 

And now I close my artless ditty, 

As per agreement with committee; 

And, making place for those more able, 

I leave the subject on the table. 

Yet one word more ; I 've had my pride 

As medicus most sorely tried 

When Englishmen (who sometimes show 

Of things American, you know, 

An ignorance that is melancholy), 

As Dr, Holmes is very jolly, 

Assume that he must therefore be 

A Doctor of Divinity. 

So, to avoid all chance of wrong 

To Medicine, or Church, or Song, 

Let " Dr. Holmes " discarded be 

For " Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D." 

And now (for I really must come to an end) 

May the fate of the chaise be the fate of our friend — 

May he never break down and never wear out 

Till a century old, or thereabout ; 

Not feeling the weight of the years as they fly. 

He simply stops living when ready to die. 

There was something about the shadows of the silent Virginia 
mountains that at times appealed to the sentiment of the party, and 
the laughter which followed Dr. Smith's verses was broken by Dr. 
Wright, who arose and recited the following : 



A doctor's pilgrimage. 43 



THE SAILOR BOY'S FAREWELL. 



Farewell to Father, blessed hulk ! 
In spite of metal, spite of bulk. 
His cable soon may slip. 
But while the parting tear is moist 
The flag of gratitude we '11 hoist, 
In duty to the ship. 

Farewell to Mother, "first class "she! 
Who launched me in Ufa's stormy sea 
And rigged me fore and aft. 
May Providence her timbers spare 
And keep her hull in good repair 
To tow the little craft! 

Farewell to Sister, lovely yacht ! 

But whether she '11 be manned or not 

I cannot now foresee. 

May some good ship a tender prove, 

Well found in stores of truth and love, 

And take her under lee! 

Farewell to George, the jolly-boat ! 

And all the little craft afloat. 

In home's delightful bay. 

When they arrive at sailing age 

May wisdom prove the "weather-gauge" 

To guide them on their way ! 

Farewell to all on life's rude main, 
And though we ne'er may meet again 
Through stress of stormy weather, 
Yet, summoned by the Board above, 
We '11 labor in the port of love. 
And all be moored together. 



44 A doctor's pilgrimage. 

As the train wound its way eastward, war memories came strug- 
gling back to those of the number who, a quarter of a century before, 
had tented on Virginia soil, and when Harper's Ferry was reached, on 
the morning of the twenty-first, stories were exchanged and reminis- 
cences indulged in. The scene of John Brown's desperate struggle 
brought vividly back the stirring episode of the outbreak of the war. 
Harper's Ferry, the Point of Rocks, and the glistening Potomac 
were all portions of the passing panorama that greeted the party 
and the morning sun which illumined the dome of the Capitol and 
the Washington Monument told our travelers that they were nearly 
home, and this they realized several hours afterward, when with 
hand-shaking and " God speed " they scattered, once more to 
plunge into their busy lives, to bind up the wounds, to straighten 
the bones, to fight microbes, and to minister to impatient patients, 
but much refreshed by their week's outing in the South. While the 
mountains of Tennessee have resumed their wonted quiet, the quail 
have crept from their places of refuge, the flowers have raised their 
heads, no longer fearing the ruthless hand of the botanist ; the 
clouds still float lazily over the Pinnacle, as if loath in their loneli- 
ness to leave the place which was so lately visited by the jolly party, 
and the memories of the Doctor's Pilgrimage of October, 1892, are 
treasured by those who had the pleasure of entertaining them. 




